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Distribution of Points
It has been common for Australian archaeologists to plot the distribution of points as a single class. This may have been misleading, because point form is highly variable and appears to vary geographically. This was recognised by Smith and Cundy (1985) whose map of points across Australia distinguished between what they called "northern flaked points", many of which were bifacial, and "southern unifacial points", all of which were unifacial. The importance of separating different forms of point in distribution studies has been reinforced by Hiscock's (1994a) study of the sequence of point manufacture in northern Australia, where it seems that unifacial points may often be the early stage of biface manufacture. Since true bifacial points are unknown in the southern parts of Australia the context of point production in the north and south are clearly different. This observation was used by Hiscock (1994b) to argue that those different point forms should be seen as separate phenomena for the purposes of mapping and interpreting their geographical distribution. | |
|  | Bifacial points are restricted to the northern and north-western portions of the Australian mainland. As yet no bifacial points have been reported from Cape York (the north east). The recorded distribution of bifacial points is shown on the map to the left. Across this region there are many different varieties of bifacial point, including those manufactured with pressure as well as percussion, and the serrated forms (which are concentrated in the northwestern portion of the range shown in this map). Unifacial points are also found throughout this region, and at least in some localities can be considered to be the early stage or precursor of bifacial points in the manufacturing sequence. |
|  | Unifacial points are distributed widely across southern central Australia, although they are often seen to be centered on the Lake Eyre Basin and Murray River corridor. The generally accepted distribution of unifacial points is shown on the map to the left. As noted above, true bifacial points (i.e. with bifacial retouch on the lateral margins) are not reported from these areas. |
| This image of point distribution has been complicated by claims that bifacial points have now been found on the eastern coast of Australia. McNiven (1993) has suggested that this purported eastern extension of the distribution may indicate diffusion of the idea from the west, even though points to the west are unifacial forms. While some of the specimens in question do conform to the morphology of a very rough bifacial point form the identity and interpretation of these items needs to be investigated further. Whatever the view on specimens reported by McNiven the two maps provided above define the main distribution of points. |
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Author: Peter Hiscock, Dept. Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University.
Feedback:  peter.hiscock@anu.edu.au.
Date Last Modified: Thursday, 1-May-97
URL: http://artalpha.anu.edu.au/web/arc/resources/paa/distpnt.htm
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